Bengal's Heart

◆ CHAPTER 25 ◆

“Rick, I can’t reach Danna or Myron on their sats.” Walt moved back into the kitchen a few hours later, a frown creasing his brow. “They were calling every few minutes, then it just stopped. I can’t reach them now.”

Patrick turned from the open window above the sink, his gaze going immediately to Cassa, his eyes turning hard and cold.

“Keith.” He turned to the Breed that waited silently at the other side of the room. “Contact Rand and Jason. Have them check on it.”

Keith nodded before pulling free the sat phone and making the call. His voice was low as he spoke, filled with pauses, but little expression on his face.

“I’ll let him know,” he finally said before turning to Patrick. “They’re under surveillance,” he reported. “Do you still want them to continue?”

Patrick looked at her again, as though it were her fault or she could do something about it. Finally, he nodded slowly. “Continue and report back to me.”

Keith relayed the order before disconnecting and storing the small phone in his jeans pocket.

“If he’s hurt them, you’ll hurt,” he stated coldly. “He knew that before he laid hands on them.”

“If your mate was taken, what would you do?” she asked him. “Who would you hurt? They knew the risk when they helped you in this.”

“And he knows the risks in striking against them.” He lifted his shoulders heavily. “So be it.”

So be it.

Cassa shook her head at the statement. This was the part of the Breed world that she didn’t always understand. Though she knew she should by now. In some ways it wasn’t that dissimilar to the human psychology, and yet in others, they were poles apart.

She was a pawn between Patrick Wallace and Cabal whether she wanted to be or not. She was insurance that Cabal wouldn’t strike out against his friends, as well as insurance that he would stay suitably occupied while Patrick killed again.

“Once Douglas is dead and you’ve found your son, what then?” she asked him. “What’s left, Patrick?”

He didn’t answer her immediately, but she saw the stiffening of his shoulders, knew he’d heard her and that the question had impacted.

“There are four more,” he finally answered. “If Jonas doesn’t kill me, then I’ll finish the job.”

“Jonas?” She stared back at him in surprise. “Jonas is the one you have to worry about killing you?”

“Jonas is the only one capable of killing me,” he informed her with mild amusement. “Your Bengal is good, Ms. Hawkins; he’s damned good. But he’s not a primal Bengal. He’s a recessed Bengal.”

“Really?” The question was mockingly phrased. “So there are two different kind of Bengals?” That was news to her.

He turned back to her then. “There are in every Breed species.” He lifted his hand, flexed his fingers, and Cassa felt her stomach almost heave as she watched claws extend and push out beneath the nails.

“I’m a primal Lion Breed.” He smiled. “The skin on each side of the human nails is no more than cartilage. Beneath the nail is a claw. It’s really rather interesting, though damned confusing to the scientists as well as the few primals that exist. There’s no pain, but sometimes, if the claws aren’t exercised, there is some blood during retraction. All in all, it’s really quite amazing. Primal Lions have been noted to have that ability. It’s rumored that primal Bengals display their stripes, especially across their face during a hunt. The small hairs at the nape of their neck become thicker, their sense of smell sharper, their rage is like icy fury. I saw one killed in the lab before my escape. It fought with true fury. Took out several Coyote soldiers as well as trained pit bulls. It was an incredible sight.”

It sounded terrifying to her. Cruel and horrible. And this man had called it an incredible sight.

“But they don’t have the retractable claws?” she asked. She had seen Cabal’s stripes, she had sensed the animal he tried to hide.

“They do.” He nodded. “All primal Feline Breeds have the retractable claws.”

She turned away from him. Cabal didn’t have retractable claws, she knew that. At least, she didn’t think he did. She had to admit she hadn’t actually asked him about them.

“Jonas is primal,” Patrick revealed. “Few realize this, and he definitely wouldn’t want the public to know. But he was created to breed. To be a stud for a new army.” He chuckled at that. “He was primal from birth.”

“You know Jonas?” She turned back to him, searching his expression.

Patrick shrugged. “I know of Jonas. I knew the rumors that circulated of his genetics, and I knew what the scientists were working on before I escaped myself. It wasn’t hard to figure out who and what he was once I began checking into it.”

“You investigated Jonas before starting this. As well as Cabal,” she guessed.

“I did.” He nodded. “As well as Rule Breaker and Lawe Justice.” He grinned at the names. “Even they aren’t quite what you would expect. Mordecai, that Coyote Jonas keeps on a leash, is more dangerous than he knows. Coyotes aren’t always forthcoming, you know, even to those they give their loyalty to.”

She shook her head. “And you’re going to defeat them all?”

“I don’t have to defeat them all,” he sighed. “I just have to get Watts. He’s probably in town by now. I wonder if he’ll ask about you. Do you think he’s forgotten about his lovely wife in the years Jonas has kept him imprisoned?”

“No doubt,” she said, mocking him. “Especially considering the fact we weren’t really married.”

“There was that.” He nodded. “At least you know where you stand with Cabal. No divorce. And the words ‘till death do us part’ take on a whole new meaning, wouldn’t you say? When your mate dies, a part of you dies with them.” There was an edge of bitterness there, one that didn’t belong with a man’s feelings toward his wife. Or his mate. There was almost a hatred, a cold, hard core of pure resentment.

“Does innocent blood appeal to you, Patrick?” she asked him. “Is that why you don’t mind using an innocent in your games?”

“There are no innocents,” he grunted as he turned back to the window, obviously assessing the breeze and the scents that flowed from the mountain. “And there’s no innocence. We just pretend there is.”

Cassa parted her lips to argue that statement, but as she began to speak the sat phone at Patrick’s belt beeped imperatively.

Pulling the phone free, he checked it, quirked his lips mockingly, then flipped it open. “Good evening, Douglas. How nice to hear from you.” He turned to Cassa, his brows lifting in surprise. “Actually, I do have her.” He paused. Listened. His expression darkened. “A trade? Very well. The information I want for your wife. Where would you like to meet?”

For one horrifying moment she felt fear cascade inside her and felt any hope she had of surviving this diminish. He was going to trade her for information on his son. He was going to trade her to a man that they both knew would kill her. There was no way Douglas would allow her to survive.

God, where was Cabal?

Douglas Watts stared at the sat phone in his hand, then at the commander of the Coyote team that had broken him from the prison Jonas Wyatt and Cabal St. Laurents had kept him in for more than eleven years.

He hated Breeds. It didn’t matter what kind they were or whether or not they were loyal to the Genetics Council. He just flat-out hated them.

H. R. Alonzo had phrased it perfectly. They were an abomination against mankind. Whatever had possessed scientists to think they could control these creatures, he didn’t know.

Now they were mixing in the general population, mating human, God-created women and infecting them with the DNA that had created the Breeds and making inhuman little monsters.

“Were you able to track the call?” he asked the commander, as the Breed stared at the display on the tracking device he used.

The Breed shook his head slowly. “The signal’s bouncing. It wasn’t a direct line.” He folded the device and slipped it into a pocket of his olive green mission pants.

Douglas inhaled slowly. Deeply. Patience, he warned himself. The Council contact that had arranged the breakout had warned him that these Coyotes didn’t understand subservience the way Coyotes used to understand it.

Kill them all, he thought. That was what they should have done.

Clenching his teeth, he looked down at his legs and moved them again. At least there was some satisfaction there. The metal supports on his legs gave them strength, and the neural disc that had been implanted just after his escape gave him movement, sensation.

Damn, he was a man again. He was even fucking horny. He hadn’t had a hard-on since that son of a bitch St. Laurents staked him in the spine the night Douglas had tried to ensure his death.

If it just hadn’t been for that stupid bitch, Cassa. God, he was glad he hadn’t actually married her. The woman was dumb as a fucking brick. She wasn’t even a nice fuck. Not that she couldn’t have been if she had just put a little effort into it. The little prude.

He snorted at the thought. He bet she would move that little ass the next time he got his dick inside her. Being mated to that Bengal. He almost chuckled at the thought. He’d heard about mating and what it did to a woman, how they couldn’t tolerate another man’s touch. Hell, he’d even seen it for himself. Twenty-two years ago, in the mountains of this little town. He’d had the pleasure of raping one. She’d screamed. Screamed in agony. Begged and fought him like a lioness. And finally, she’d died. He’d fucked her until she lost the little animal she was carrying and died right there in his arms.

He was going to fuck Cassa like that too. Fuck her until she screamed and cried, fought and begged. And if she was carrying St. Laurents’s kittens, then he’d make sure she wasn’t carrying them when he finished with her.

Moving slowly, he rose to his feet, almost moaning with the welcome pain he felt in his legs. It would take a while to regain the muscle he’d lost in the past eleven years, the surgeon had warned him. But it would happen. He had his legs back, he had his manhood back.

And he had to piss.

Even that feeling was almost ecstasy. Soon, he’d be back to his old self, and once he was, he’d tell the world, show them the brutality of the Breeds.

They had reported Douglas Watts dead. Wouldn’t the world be surprised when he showed up, not just alive, but with proof of what they did to their enemies and the horrors they subjected those against them to.

“We’re meeting them in the valley then?” the commander asked, his voice chillingly polite.

“Isn’t that what you heard me arrange?” Douglas grunted, wishing he could slap the bastard down as he should have been able to do.

“There have been Bureau patrols around them,” the Coyote reminded him. “Just because the meet was stated for there doesn’t mean we can’t change it.”

No, the valley was perfect. He almost rubbed his hands together in glee. There was a reason he and his friends had chosen that valley to ambush the Breeds in. There were plenty of places to hide and not as many to break through. The bastard that had dared to try to kill off the Deadly Dozen, and Douglas himself, would learn that he wasn’t dealing with some country bumpkin.

Good Lord, why hadn’t Phillip Brandenmore taken care of this mess in Glen Ferris? He practically owned this town, but still, Breeds lived and were probably breeding here. Like rats. Or cockroaches.

“I gotta take a piss,” he told the Breed commander. Damn if he could remember his name. “Get your men together. Have they moved to the valley yet?”

“My men are in place.” The answer wasn’t rude, but it was just shy of it.

Douglas glared back at him. “Remember who’s paying you,” he bit out angrily. “If you don’t succeed, you won’t get a penny.”

The Coyote’s grin was rueful. “And I’m all about the money, man. It’s the only reason your white-trash ass is still alive.”

Fury nearly strangled Douglas. He was not white trash. He could trace his family tree back beyond the Mayflower. He was a descendant of kings, and this bastard dared to talk to him this way.

“You remind me of a braying jackass,” Douglas sneered. “You bastards used to remember your place.”

The Coyote laughed at that. “At your back, with a blade? Man, you’d be bleeding from your throat, not your back, if you weren’t worth more to me alive than dead. Now take your piss so we can get started.”

The Coyote shook his head as he continued to chuckle. Let him enjoy his little laugh. He would be next, Douglas promised himself. There were plenty of pure blood societies willing to be trained to kill these animals. And Douglas knew just how to train them. Just how to work them. And this Coyote commander would be first on his list.

Brimstone might think his shit didn’t stink, but Douglas would be the man to show him better. Soon. Very soon.

Cabal took the pill he had saved back from those he had given Jonas. It wouldn’t eliminate the human side of his scent, but it would at least hide the Breed. If he stayed downwind of the location he had tracked the sat phone to, then it wouldn’t matter anyway.

He just had to find Cassa. He would deal with Patrick Wallace, or Azrael as Cabal suspected him to be, after Cassa’s safety was assured.

God help the bastard if she wasn’t okay.

Shifting the pack on his back, he scaled one of the low-lying cliffs that led along the path to the location he was searching for. There wasn’t time to go around it. Cassa said the pills lasted two hours; that should be time enough for what he had to do.

As he slid along the top of the cliff, he stayed low, listening to the steady hum of the near silent heli-jet cruising overhead.

The specially designed mission pants he wore would hide him from the thermal imaging the craft had. He’d disconnected the locator the pants carried, ensuring that Jonas couldn’t pick him up on the specialized radar the heli-jet was equipped with.

As it passed overhead, Cabal rose to his feet and moved quickly along one of the narrow paths that animals or hikers had made on the mountain. He checked the sat phone locator beacon often, noticing that it hadn’t moved. At least not yet. Though Jonas had sent a message that Douglas Watts was definitely on the move, and that worried Cabal. Because Watts was heading this way.

He ignored the slight chill that pressed through the mission suit and ignored the snow beginning to swirl around him.

As he topped the rise, he crawled to the edge of a ravine and looked over, his eyes narrowing at the slightest glow of light through the darkness.

He checked the tracker on the sat phone, and was certain that this was the cabin he was searching for. He watched, inhaling the scents blowing toward him, searching for some sign of Cassa and finding nothing on the cold breeze.

He was going to have to get in closer, but with the way the cabin sat and the position of the ravine, it was going to be damned near impossible to slip up on another Breed. His Breed scent might be masked, but if the pill did indeed allow the human scent through, then he could be fucked. Because Azrael would be able to detect him coming.

He would have to stay low. The lower he was, the less chance there would be of the breeze betraying him. The winds were swirling, but for the moment they were coming down, curling and moving along the edge of the valley. If they stayed as they were, a big if there, then there would be a narrow window of movement that he could use to advance on the cabin.

Plotting his course, he gave the breeze time to die down before he took off. Using one hand to hold the rifle secure at his back, he ran, body low, using the speed that had been built into his genetics to race the wind.

As he drew closer to the cabin, he knew something was wrong. He could smell Breed scent; Walt Jameson’s scent was there as well as a scent he knew belonged to David Banks. But the scents weren’t fresh. They weren’t there.

Enraged, a howl tore from Cabal’s lips as he went through the front door. Glass and wood crashed into an immaculate kitchen. There was chili on the stove, coffee in the pot. All fresh. Cassa’s scent was there at the table, an untouched bowl of food where she had sat.

But there was no Cassa.

“You fucker!” he screamed. Fury burned like fire in his blood and tore through his senses, darkening the stripes now bisecting his face and running down his body.

“Jonas,” he barked into the comm link. “They’re not at the cabin I tracked the sat phone signal from. What the fuck is going on?”

“Watts is moving,” Jonas growled into the link. “If you’d keep the goddamned link turned on, you might know that. There’s movement at the valley where Alonzo’s body was found. We can’t slip in with the heli-jet. We’re moving in on foot.”

Cabal didn’t wait to question. The clearing was a good half hour’s hard run from where he was currently at. The distance could be shortened if he shot over the cliff behind him. If he could scale it quickly enough.

It was a second’s thought, quick calculation before he ran for the cliff. The leather gloves on his hands protected his palms, but nothing could protect the gloves as his nails retracted, the strong claws beneath shooting out to grip the stone.

He scrambled up the narrow cliff face, using every ounce of strength in his arms and legs to move himself quickly along the jutting stone and the weathered erosions that pitted it.

Within minutes he was jumping over the top and was running. Son of a bitch, he hated running with this damned suit on. He couldn’t feel the breeze, couldn’t smell it either, couldn’t sense friend or foe as he could without the protective outerwear.

Without it though he would be easily detectable to Breed or human devices. The fabric blocked some scent; hopefully the anti-scent drug he had taken would completely block the Breed scent. If he was lucky, damned lucky, then he just might be able to slip in.

“Cassa’s been sighted, Cabal. She’s alive. Patrick Wallace has made a deal with Watts according to the information our spy within the group had gotten to us. He’s trading Cassa to Watts for information on a missing son.”

“What missing kid?” he snarled into the link.

“The Valentine’s night massacre,” Jonas relayed. “Wallace’s mate was in labor when the Dozen found her. She was alone with the midwife. Both his mate and the midwife were killed. Her child was cut from her body and taken. Watts took the boy. Wallace is hunting for his child.”

Then he should have come to Jonas. Hell, he could have come to Cabal at any time and received every resource they could use to find Wallace’s missing child.

No, what this man had done was insanity. He had killed, risked the Breed community and then dared to attempt to trade Cassa for information.

He was a dead man, Cabal promised himself. There was no way in hell Cabal was going to allow such mercilessness to survive.

“Cabal, we have a team moving in,” Jonas informed him. “Brimstone is commander of the Coyotes that broke Watts out of the prison. That team is not to be touched. Those Coyotes are friendly. I repeat, they’re friendly. Do not engage. Son of a bitch, you stubborn-assed Bengal. I know what the fuck I’m doing here!” Jonas finally yelled in frustration when Cabal didn’t respond.

Engage, his ass. Then they better not get in his damned way. He liked Brimstone just fine. Second-in-command of the Coyotes that had joined the Wolf community of Haven, he was a fine man. He was a damned good Breed. But if he stood in Cabal’s way, then he was going to be a damned good dead Breed. It was that simple.